A Modest Brand Founder Talks Business, Personal Style & More
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My mother was very into fashion when I was growing up. We spent a lot of time in Selfridges when I was a child! It’s interesting because a couple of seasons ago, one of my muses for Sabirah was Dominique Deveraux from Dynasty and, after talking to my mum, she said she was always a style influence for her too – a powerful Black woman who was always impeccably dressed. One of my earliest, I suppose fashion, memories is that I could always hear my mum approaching. Click-clack, click-clack – she always wore heels, so you always knew she was coming!
I didn’t think about a career in fashion until I was in India on a gap year. I just fell in love with the colours and the fabrics, and I started doing really bad drawings and taking them to the tailor to get things made. While I was there, I said to my friends, “I want to go back and be a fashion designer.” But I had a place at university, so when I told my parents I wasn’t going to take it, they told me it was a terrible choice! Regardless, I went back to secondary school to do my A Levels and then I joined the London College of Fashion’s foundation course before doing my degree. After that, I was invited to go to Fabrica in Italy for a year. I started out designing furniture – it was very cross-disciplinary, which really opened my mind to all sorts of creativity.
After Fabrica, I moved to Milan for three years. I did many different things there: I assisted the menswear designer Carol Christian Poell – he was like the Margiela of Milan – then I did some print design work in Como. I also started working at Italian Elle – they would commission me to do illustrations for their pages – and I also started styling. In many ways, it was the most creative period of my career.
My own sense of style has evolved over the years. I became a Muslim 17 years ago, so my style was very different to when I was a young London clubber. Fashion has been important to me since my early 20s, so it was about translating this new aesthetic into something that still felt high fashion and really well made. That’s probably where Sabirah was first born because it was a frustration of mine – I wanted pieces that were well cut, well made and met my modest requirements.
I've always done my own thing. I've never really followed people or trends. A friend of mine once said to me: “I don't know anybody, Deborah, who could wear head-to-toe yellow and still look good.” But that was me. These days I wear a lot more black but I still love colour. That’s another thing that makes Sabirah what it is – we spend a long time on each individual pattern, as well as the colours and cut. We often tweak the cuts because we work with end-of-life fabrics too.
Sustainability is an interesting conversation in fashion. On one hand, the industry is taking account of itself a bit more but, in another way, we're still doing shows all over the world and inviting all these editors to go to them. I'm not even talking about the usual London, Paris, Milan – I'm talking one-off resort or limited collection shows in Shanghai. I knew when we launched Sabirah we couldn’t start a business without some sort of social and sustainable policy. Also, as a Muslim woman, we do see ourselves as custodians of the land, so you have to consider these things. Being a made-to-order, made-to-measure business helps – I want people to really love the pieces that they have and, when something fits beautifully, that’s easier to do.
@SABIRAHOFFICIAL
I’ve always loved vintage shopping. When I was younger, I went to lots of car boot sales in search of beautiful old coats. My mum always wondered what I was wearing but I loved being in that world. I remember my uncle had this old Adidas zip-up top – it was light blue with dark blue sleeves, and I loved wearing that as well… In fact, I think I’ve still got it somewhere, even though it doesn’t fit me anymore. I’ve also held onto a scarf of my grandmother's – I love the sentiment of wearing something that belonged to somebody else – and I’ve got mohair jumpers from the 1970s I still wear.
These days, my shopping habits have changed. I obviously wear a lot of pieces from my own brand, but I still like to get my basics from COS and Marks & Spencer. The latter does great cashmere and the men’s shirts are also worth checking out. Between that, my vintage treasures and Sabirah, I have everything I need.
If you’re wondering how to reinvent your personal style, lean into accessories. I've always loved jewellery, shoes and bags, and I think they can make a huge difference to an outfit. You could be wearing something very plain and then you put on some great jewellery, a fabulous bag and shoes and it just makes a massive difference. It’s also important to think about your body shape and what you feel comfortable in. When you feel comfortable, you automatically feel good. I never like to feel constrained or restrained – you have to feel confident in what you're wearing to look good.
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ASIA WERBEL
Confidence is something we all need to work on all of the time. With clothes, I’d say use them to accentuate what you like about yourself or disguise what you’re not so keen on. Also, if you find something you like and feel good in, don’t be afraid to buy it more than once, perhaps in different colours and re-wear it all the time. When I love something, I wear it until it falls apart. Social media can warp our minds a bit when it comes to ‘newness’ but real life is about wearing the clothes you love time and again. If you really are stuck in a style rut – maybe you’ve been through a big life change – and if budget allows, think about working with a stylist or personal shopper for a bit. It doesn’t have to be all the time, but they could open your eyes to which shapes work best for you and why. Alternatively, find a stylish friend and ask her to help you put some outfits together. Sometimes that outside perspective is all we need to help our wardrobes feel fresh again.
Slow fashion is a commitment. You’re not going to order something from us and get it the next day. If you want something that’s well made, you have to wait for it. We need to get the patterns made so that it fits you properly. But the quality is so worth it. As a stylist, I’ll always encourage people to try something on, touch it, feel it, understand the quality. A real silk lining feels so different against your skin, for example. It gives me so much pleasure when I see people trying things on and watching the stigma around modest fashion fall away. We've also worked hard on our imagery and videos to help people understand that modest fashion can also be light. Women can dress this way and still feel beautiful and empowered.
The most sentimental piece in my wardrobe is a Blumarine dress I wore to a friend's wedding. I got it at such a bargain price and I love it. I also have a Wallis shirt from the 1980s that belonged to my auntie. I wore it the other day and she said, “I think I want that back!” Spoiler alert: she’s not getting it back. What can I say? I’m a collector.
While I don’t personally follow trends, I'm still interested in what's going on in fashion. A brand I really love right now is The Row. The Olsen twins have a very special product there and the imagery is very interesting as well. It’s very easy to think of The Row as ‘elevated basics’, but the imagery is so artful and creative. Everything is about structure, which is very reminiscent of people like Cristóbal Balenciaga and Issey Miyake.
ASIA WERBEL
My inspiration comes from everywhere. That’s the mark of a true creative – you have to be able to find it in most things. If I’m feeling a bit lost, I always turn to nature. I remember seeing a petal on the floor and I couldn’t believe all the colours in it. I ended up doing a natural dye related to those colours – lots of pinks and yellows together. Art is another source of inspiration – I could be in Venice and see a painting and feel completely renewed. There’s a Jamaican artist who created pictures of Black – predominantly women – but also a few men, in all these regal settings. They were all incredibly elevated and it inspired a lot of my first Sabirah collection.
We’ll be dropping some new Sabirah pieces around March. But otherwise, my priority for the business this year is to build our community. At Sabirah, we’re not interested in the male gaze and that is a really important step forward for women – to get them thinking “how do I want to look, how do I want to feel?” When I wear something, it's for me, not anybody else and I want our customers to feel the same way.
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